About: payment cards
Cultural differences challenge European single payments area
SPECIAL REPORT / New rules to promote a Single European Payments Area (SEPA) will be presented this month, but the EU executive faces cultural as well as regulatory hurdles in attempting to promote online and mobile payments across the EU.
Consumer groups divided over benefits of lower payment-card fees
SPECIAL REPORT / Forthcoming European Commission proposals aimed at reducing charges for payment cards have ignited a debate over whether consumers will benefit, based on previous experiences in Spain and France.
MasterCard chief: ‘New card rules could discriminate’
The European Commission is poised to publish new payments rules covering ‘interchange’ fees, which are charged on card transactions. These could unfairly hit Visa and MasterCard, leaving rivals American Express and Paypal unfair market advantage, says the president of MasterCard Europe.
Cash costs each German €150 each year: Research
Using cash instead of debit and credit cards costs Germans around €150 per person each year, according to an academic study from Steinbeis University in Berlin on the ‘Cost of Cash’.
Payment Services Directive: The new payments landscape
The Payment Services Directive (PSD) was adopted by the EU Council of Ministers in March 2007, but an explosion in e-commerce through the internet and the ownership and use of smartphones has taken place since then. In response to the challenge posed by technology to traditional payments methods, the Commission published a green paper called: ‘Towards an integrated European market for card, internet and mobile payments,’ as a precursor to further rules changes. Following a consultation period an updated Payment Services Directive (PSD II) was published this summer (July 24), with a separate regulation on multilateral interchange fees (MIFs).
Visa Europe agrees to cap inter-bank fee
Visa Europe has decided to cap its inter-bank credit card fees at 0.3% of transaction value for four years, the same level as the rival MasterCard network, to end a European Union competition investigation and stave off a possible fine. VideoPromoted content
Commission accepts Visa inter-bank fee cap
Visa Europe, the European licensee of Visa Inc., has offered to cap its inter-bank credit card fees at 0.3% of transaction value for four years, the same level as the rival MasterCard network, to end a European Union competition investigation and stave off a possible fine.
EU wins landmark ruling over credit, payment card fees
Mastercard lost a challenge to an EU ban on its cross-border card fees in a ruling that puts rival Visa Europe squarely in the sights of the European regulators over its charges.